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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26497270">for goodness' bake!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shmulia/pseuds/shmulia'>shmulia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Good Place (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(it falls into one of the reboots so a canon compliant au?), (kind of), Baking, Canon Compliant, Gen, gbbo au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:22:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26497270</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shmulia/pseuds/shmulia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In reboot 406, Michael's form of torture may be his most devious yet: competitive baking</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tahani Al-Jamil &amp; Chidi Anagonye &amp; Jianyu Li | Jason Mendoza &amp; Eleanor Shellstrop</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>for goodness' bake!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this waaaaay back in 2019 for the prompt "the good place characters do the great british bake off", and found it again when digging through some old wips. It made me smile a bit, so I hope it does the same for you!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nothing had prepared them for this.</p>
<p>“On your marks,” Michael called out.</p>
<p>Nothing <em>could</em> have prepared them for this.</p>
<p>“Get set!” Janet continued, smiling widely at all of them in turn. Eleanor and Tahani exchanged nervous glances, whilst Chidi let out a deep breath. Jason, meanwhile, was looking around the venue in delight.</p>
<p>“<em>Bake!”</em> Michael and Janet said in unison, Janet raising her hands to give the group two thumbs up. At the back of the tent, a giant digital clock which had been set for an hour and a half began ticking down.</p>
<p>Chaos ensued.</p><hr/>
<p>It was simple, really; it was an idea Michael had had, a little “team building” exercise for the four of them. When Eleanor had asked <em>why</em> exactly they needed to do a team building activity, particularly one which didn’t seem to involve teams, Michael had brushed it aside with a wave of his hand.</p>
<p>“Just making sure you’re all getting on in the neighbourhood,” he’d said with a smile as they stood outside an unnecessarily large white tent for just the six of them. “And as my four favourites – don’t tell the others – I thought you all might enjoy a little hands-on activity!”</p>
<p>Eleanor raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the others. “Oh, sure. I <em>definitely</em> remember loving baking when I was alive. I’m sure Tahani did it <em>all</em> the time, we know how much she enjoys getting her clothes coated in flour. And I mean, Chidi just <em>loves</em> activities involving lists – okay, scratch that, he probably does. But Ja- Jianyu doesn’t exactly strike me as a making cookie dough kind of guy.”</p>
<p>Another wave of Michael’s hand dispersed Eleanor’s words into the gentle breeze Janet had been asked to make. It created “atmosphere”, apparently.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess it could be fun!” Chidi interjected, looking around the field they had been taken to so the activity could be done in peace, according to Michael. “And I mean, it might be nice to try something new. We’re here for eternity – may as well get some hobbies out of it!” He rubbed his hands together, nodding at Michael and Janet.</p>
<p>Eleanor rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“But baking. Really?” she asked. Tahani patted her on the shoulder encouragingly.</p>
<p>“I think this could be delightful!” she said, clapping her hands together and raising them to her chest. “Why, if my dear friend Robert Downey Junior can serve handmade mini croissants at his post-birthday brunch, I can’t see why we can’t roll up our sleeves – metaphorically, of course, I haven’t worn a sleeve below the elbow since secondary school - and make some freshly baked goods for our tables!”</p>
<p>“That’s the spirit!” Michael grinned, ushering them into the tent. Janet lead the way, her purple heels somehow not sinking into the ground beneath as she stepped confidently through the doorway.</p>
<p>Tahani wasn’t quite so lucky, her shoes pushing into the dirt with every step, head held high nonetheless as she marched onwards.</p>
<p>Chidi shrugged at Eleanor, who still looked sceptical, and followed Tahani. Eleanor, arms folded over her striped jumper, frowned at the tent. It wasn’t until the others had all entered that Jason leaned down to her.</p>
<p>“C’mon Eleanor. It could be fun!” he whispered encouragingly. “Besides, it’s just baking – what could go wrong?”</p><hr/>
<p>Two fires, a broken oven, and thirty-two eggs later, the quartet were not quite as positive.</p>
<p>“It’s a list,” Chidi said, gripping the sheet of paper between both hands and shaking his head quickly. Four bowls of cake mix, none of which had gone quite right, were piled in the sink; bowl number five sat in front of him, the batter so dry it was almost dough-like. “It’s just a list. I’m following you, list. <em>Why is it not working when I’m following you, list?”</em></p>
<p>Tahani, who had successfully gotten her Victoria sponge into the oven at least, was looking forlornly at her dress. The vivid purple flowers were speckled with a combination of flour and cake batter after the mixer had been put on too high a speed, and when she pressed at the material her fingers left further powdery stains.</p>
<p>The timer on the oven was beeping loudly at Eleanor, who had chosen to ignore it and eat the strawberry jam laid out for the filling straight out of the jar with her fingers. Janet was standing next to Jason, fire extinguisher in hand, prepared for inferno number three at any moment. None of them were sure how the first two fires had started, but Jason seemed content to keep trying to make his cake despite his knack for accidental arson.</p>
<p>The clock behind them still showed half an hour left.</p><hr/>
<p>Michael straightened his bow tie before spinning around to face the four humans.</p>
<p>“That’s one minute left on the clock, team!” he called out. “Better get your cakes ready! Janet, do you wanna head over here and help me count down?” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder as he looked over at Janet.</p>
<p>“Thank you Michael, but there’s a 79.3% chance Jianyu will set another fire before the time is up.”</p>
<p>“…Maybe stay there for now then, Janet.”</p>
<p>She gave Michael a thumbs up before aiming the fire extinguisher back at Jason’s station.</p>
<p>“Are the rest of you ready?” Michael asked; the chorus of no’s wasn’t a surprise given that Eleanor had started eating Chidi’s jar of strawberry jam, her cake still in its tin with a melting blob of cream on it, Tahani was trying to pipe her whipped cream in an intricate pattern, and Chidi was only just pulling his cake out of the over after attempt number eight had finally met his standards.</p>
<p>“Well, too bad, because you have ten, nine, eight, seven-“</p>
<p>“WE GET IT,” Eleanor called out, a smear of jam on her cheek.</p>
<p>“…three two, one! You’re done, ladies and gentlemen! Please place your cakes on the end of your benches and we’ll decide the winner!”</p>
<p>“Wait, these are being <em>judged?”</em> Chidi asked, stress lacing his voice. “I didn’t realise that. Ohhhh, hello stomach ache, my old friend.”</p>
<p>“I’m not feeling great either,” Eleanor volunteered.</p>
<p>“Yes, eating two jars of jam in one sitting will do that to a person,” Tahani said.</p>
<p>“If they didn’t want me to eat the jam, why was it there, Tahani?”</p>
<p>“Did you guys realise this was being judged?”</p>
<p>“Clearly it was for the cake, as were the rest of the ingredients!”</p>
<p>“Then they should have made that clear to us!”</p>
<p>“Did you tell us it was being judged? Michael, I don’t remember you saying it was going to be judged!”</p>
<p>The loud sound of the fire extinguisher washed out their voices as Janet put out fire number four. Michael allowed himself one small grin before he put on a mask of concern and strode over towards a distraught Tahani.</p>
<p>Reboot 406 was going well so far.</p>
<p> </p>
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